Found A New Species

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30593, 9 November 1964, Page 2

Found A New Species

TEL AVIV. Dr. Eugenie Clark, a noted ichthyologist of the marine laboratory at Cape Haze, near Sarasota, Florida, and the world’s only woman shark expert, just missed hordes of sharks and barracuda off Eilath. But during a fortnight’s research there on marine life in the Red Sea, she found fish of a species not yet known to scientists. Her work is being done for the United States Office of Naval Research.

She appeared to be full of regret when she heard that a “poisoning” operation which she had carried out in shallow waters off Eilath to discover the type of fish which live there later brought close to the shore many of her “pet” sharks. But they apparently arrived only after Dr. Clark had left Eilath.

Dr. Clark regarded their arrival, however, as natural. “Some of the fish which were poisoned escaped from us and sort of floundered in the water and their vibrations could attract sharks and barracudas"

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter) she explained, adding: “It would have been interesting to see them.” Although sharks are common in the Red Sea, the dangerous variety, Tiger Sharks, do not like coastal areas. “Noone was ever bitten by a shark at Eilath,” she said. One Stranger Commenting upon her discovery of a new species of fish, Dr. Clark said that it was very beautiful. On first looking at the assorted fish caught in the poisoning operation, she said, she thought that she knew them all. “Then I was diving and I saw this strange fish which dived into the sand,” she continued. “I put a net over it, then squeezed the sand and it jumped out into the net and I caught it. ‘lt was five inches long and looked like an eel but does not belong to the eel family. It has three filament rays coming out of its head which are more than half the length of its body, and they stand out like a great plume. It is a really spectacular fish.”

' Dr. Clark also caught a garden eel, believed to be the first one ever collected in Israel. Veteran fishermen at Eilath told her that it would be impossible to catch one since many have tried and failed. Altogether, she found at least 72 species of fish in the shallow waters off Eilath. Once Arrested Dr Clark says the life of an ichthyologist is full of adventure. Four years ago, when she came on her first visit to Eilath, for a similar expedition, for instance, she was arrested. A policeman who saw her very close to the Jordanian border mistook her for an infiltrator. In 1962, she joined an Israeli expedition to a tiny remote island, 30 miles off Massawa in the Indian Ocean. She was the only woman in a group of 18 scientists. Now she is looking forward to a similar expedition next spring.